Centenarians celebrating their 100th birthdays at Progressive Intercultural Community Services (PICS) Society has become a regular occasion with the most recent 100th birthday celebration of senior resident Venketamma Panchaliya at PICS Assisted Living taking place on February 14 with Surrey Mayor Brenda Locke in attendance.   

By DESIBUZZCanada Staff

SURREY – Centenarians celebrating their 100th birthdays at Progressive Intercultural Community Services (PICS) Society has become a regular occasion with the most recent 100th birthday celebration of senior resident Venketamma Panchaliya at PICS Assisted Living taking place on February 14 with Surrey Mayor Brenda Locke in attendance.   

PICS Society took the opportunity to make it a grand occasion for Venketamma who was joined by her family and peers for the birthday celebration.  

Venketamma has been a resident at PICS Assisted Living for the last 10 years where she has made some amazing memories and friends. She was excited to share her story with PICS Staff members and Mayor Locke for the cake cutting ceremony.  

Locke spoke to the seniors “To be able to celebrate a centurion’s birthday is phenomenal and I hope I get to come and celebrate all of your birthdays. Reaching 100 years of age does not happen without having good care, I want to thank all the staff, caregivers and all the friends, living in a facility like this is really the cornerstone of having a full and longer life.” 

PICS President and CEO Satbir Singh Cheema presented Venketamma with a gift for her birthday and addressed those in attendance “One thing we can proudly say is that this celebration is proof that our seniors are being provided excellent care by the staff and management team led by Inderjeet Hundal and Rajeev Mohindru.  It is no wonder that this facility has been ranked number one in the region consistently by a survey undertaken by the health authorities. You may recall that last year we also had the privilege to celebrate not one but three centenarian birthdays. This could not have been accomplished without the state-of-the-art care which PICS Assisted Living provides.” 

Cheema also took this opportunity to raise awareness on PICS’s long term care facility, Guru Nanak Diversity Village “Further to our conversation about senior’s care, PICS Society is building a 125-bed long term care facility that will provide much needed culturally sensitive care to the seniors in our community. The building permit application has been submitted to the city planners and we request Mayor Brenda Lock to help expediate the approval process so we can help and improve the lives of more seniors.”